Espie and the World of Ponies (Espieseries 2 Part 1)
by ScythanError
Summary: (Warning: mind grammar and stuffs...) Espie uses the cube of dimensions to warp from the Spirit Tree into Ponyville, meeting all of the Mane Six, going all around Equestria with them.While moving around Equestria, Espie discovers two more spirits from the forests of Nibel, one of whom became her companion for adventures,becoming the Spirit Duo who travelled for adventure.
1. Chapter 1 (Espie Goes to Ponyville)

**Chapter 1 (Espie goes to Ponyville)**

 **Espie twiddled with the Cube of Dimensions under the grand Spirit Tree, imagining the endless exploration of parallel dimensions that she might go to. She stared into the starlit night skies, gazing at all its beauty and saw a shooting star. "Maybe now would be a good time to go for some dimensional travelling."**

 **Espie decided that the shooting star was a sign for her to go on another adventure again, just like her journey to the Valley of Dreams.**

 **The next morning, she packed all of her necessary items in her sling flax-woven bag and prepared to travel. She visited Teva, now a medicinal herbalist and healing expert, for a jar or medicine to apply on wounds.**

 **Teva greeted her, chatting about their past achievements. She gave Espie a bottle of Spirit Blossom Essence for healing, preparing her for the worst. Espie thanked her, proceeding to her next stop.**

 **Next, she went to visit her best apprentice's, Lucie, who had taken over her for teaching and guiding newly-born Light Spirits. After finding Lucie, she informed her that she was going to a faraway place for another adventure, leaving her responsibility with her.**

" **But** _ **where**_ **exactly are you going Master Espie? I can commit to handling responsibility, but I'm just worried that you might not return to Nibel." She asked Espie, concerned about her.**

" **Well Lucie, I will be travelling through dimensions and will come back every now and then. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Just make sure that my students, including you, practice the skills I taught you before. Anyway, I will be leaving today. I'm gonna leave it up to you. Farewell, Lucie."**

 **Espie left Lucie's home, moving to a clearing before using the cube to warp her into the dimensional space, full of rifts to different dimensions. "I think I'll explore this place first," she spoke to herself, determining that she was going to the dimensional rift that she saw. She placed the cube in her bag, flying towards the rift** **appearing somewhere in** **an unknown forest.**

" **Hmm, this place looks kind of unwelcoming." Espie soliloquized, looking around in the dense and gloomy forest. The dark, overcast night made it seem even more ominous. Not even the crickets dared to make a sound. She looked around for a clearing to fly out of but ended up fruitless. "The forest is too thick, guess I'll have to wander around till I can reach the forest edge." She uttered, reluctantly going on foot.**

 **Suddenly, two wolf-like creatures made of wood, charged at her, clawing her arm and the side of her face, bruising her legs, making her yelp in pain. Espie shot her light spells at both of them, scaring them away. Espie staggered her way out of the forest onto a grassy meadow and collapsed due to exhaustion and injury.**

 **When Espie awoke, she saw herself in a bed, with cloth bandages on her arm and her leg. She was surrounded by animals from small animals like bunnies to a big brown bear. Upon seeing the bear, she screamed "Aah!" Her squeal startled Fluttershy for an instant.**

" **Don't be afraid, she's a friendly bear. I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you. Are you doing fine?" A soft and seemingly shy voice was heard.**

" **I'm Espie, I still feel a sharp pains, but it's manageable. Last night, I got attacked by wolf-like creatures made of wood in the forest nearby. Can you explain to me about what those creatures are?"**

 **Fluttershy replied "Well, those creatures you saw were Timberwolves. They live in the forests that you came out from called the Everfree forest. These creatures are aggressive most of the time and I do not recommend you going back into the forest. I am also afraid of them, that's why I do not go there unless I'm forced to."**

 **Espie understood what she meant and requested "Can you show me around this place? I'm not from around here so I am not familiar with this place."**

" **Sure. I'm going to show you and introduce to you all of my other friends while going around Ponyville. But you're still badly injured, and your leg is badly bruised. I do not think it is wise for you to move around on your own. Why don't you ride on me? Mind the wings." Fluttershy suggested amiably.**

" **Wings?"**

" **Yes, wings. I'm a Pegasus pony. Hop on! I'll bring you around."**

" **Wait! My bag!" "Don't worry, it's safe under Angel's care, he's my favourite white bunny over there. I don't think you want to carry your bag around in your current state. Climb up, I'll show you around Ponyville."**

 **Being assured, Espie climbed up onto her back and they started to move out of the cottage.**

" **Espie, can I ask what sort of creature are you and why do you have a golden lining around your eyes? And why do you have a slight golden glow? They make you look beautiful."**

" **I'm a Light Spirit from Nibel. I was born with the golden lining and a golden glitter around my fur. Other spirits call me the Golden Spirit as I was born with these marks and the slight golden glow. And yes, they do make me seem alluring, which is sometimes a disadvantage to me as it makes male spirits motivated to show off so that I can get attracted to them."**

 **Espie continued chatting with Fluttershy on the way "One of my friends even tried to show off his muscles a few years ago during my journey to the Valley of Dreams. He was arrogant most of the times during the journey, flexing muscles just to impress me, but still leaving me unimpressed."**

" **Sounds like one of my friends, Rainbow Dash, who also loves to show off, but I will be introducing her later. First, I'm going to bring you to see Pinkie Pie first. She'd love to see you. She is very friendly and extroverted."**

" **Fluttershy, I hope I'm not causing any inconvenience or discomfort to you while riding on your back." "Espie, I can handle it. If I can handle Angel, why can't I handle you? It's no problem at all."**

 **Fluttershy had intentions of introducing Espie to the Mane Six, first moving towards Sugar Cube Corner.**


	2. Chapter 2 (Visiting the Mane Six)

**Chapter 2 (Visiting the Mane Six)**

 **They went into the town of Ponyville, heading in front of the Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie Pie, upon spotting Fluttershy with a creature not known to her on her back, burst out of the front door with such enthusiasm and energy that it startled Fluttershy, making her step back a little.**

" **HELLO Fluttershy! Who's that on your back? What are you anyway, you cutie little white, um, thing… I've never seen you before" Pinkie exploded with words exuberantly.**

" **Hi, I'm Espie. Nice to meet you, um…" "Pinkie! You can call me Pinkie! Pleasure to meet you Espie! Please come in, both of you! Please share more about yourself Espie, I want to know more about you."**

 **Espie explained about herself to Pinkie, making Pinkie more intrigued about her.**

 **Realising that the allocated time for the visit is up, they had to cut short the conversation.**

" **Actually, now Fluttershy and I are on a tight schedule to visit some of the ponies around Ponyville, so we have to continue our chat on another day..."**

" **No problem Espie, it's nice to know that you are going around getting to know some of the ponies. We shall have a chat whenever you are ready after you recover. Get well soon and see you!"**

" **Bye Pinkie! See you again!"**

 **They moved on to the Sweet Apple Acres, the home of the Apples to visit Applejack.**

" **Howdy Fluttershy, who's that injured one on your back?" "Hi, I'm Espie. I'm hurt but I'm feeling just alright with Fluttershy. Who might you be?"**

" **I'm Applejack. Pleasure to meet ya Espie. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, we are the Apples, this is Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Do you want to eat some 'appletastic' lunch with us?" "C'mon Espie, join us, it'll be nice"**

" **Oh alright," Espie replied while being helped off Fluttershy's back onto a wooden chair. "Let's start. What's for lunch?"**

" **Espie, there are a variety of choices. Let me list all of them before ye choose some. There's apple pie, apple jam bread, apple mash…" Applejack babbling about food and paused for a while before continuing to list beverages "Apple juice, apple cocktail, apple cider…"**

 **In the midst of being overwhelmed by the huge variety of food and beverages, Espie picked the apple pie and apple juice. "Comin' right up!" Applejack started to grab the dishes and a cup of apple juice and placed it on the table in front of her. "Enjoy ye meal. "Enjoy ye meal. Recuperate quickly so that we'd have one day to spend time together." Applejack spoke before continuing to serve food Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom.**

 **Apple Bloom poked Espie with a hoof and initiated a chat with her.**

" **So how did you get injured Espie?" she asked curiously.**

" **Timberwolves, they scratched me and bit my arm and leg. Now I am unable to walk myself, that's why Fluttershy is letting me ride on her to get around while I'm introduced to all of you," Espie replied, showing her injured right leg and left arm wrapped in bandages.**

" **I hope you'd be alright soon. I'll help you take care of the dishes, and if ya need anything else, just call my sister, Applejack, for additional assistance."**

" **Thank you so much, Apple Bloom and Applejack for making me welcome and letting me try these dishes. I guess we're going to our next stop Fluttershy. See you Apples again when I have recovered." "Bye Espie, see ya!"**

 **Espie was succoured and lifted by Applesjack onto Fluttershy's back and waved goodbye to the Apple Family, continuing their way to Rarity's home.**

 **While moving in close proximity to Rarity's home, they ran into Rarity. Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged greetings. Espie and Rarity exchanged introductions and the trio entered Rarity's home.**

 **Rarity looked at Espie closely and intently, lifting up her injured leg. "You're quite hurt my dear, you should really rest for quicker recovery. Anyway, is that make-up on your face around your eyes? You look like some beauty model with that..."**

" **It's not make-up. I was naturally born with the golden linings as birthmarks. It make me naturally beautifully attractive, but it's permanent." Espie replied, making Rarity a bit envious** b **ut both did their introductions to each other before they continued.**

" **Would you like to come with me to hunt for gems on the outskirts of Ponyville when you have recovered? I might need an additional assistant help me with unearthing some of the gems for my new design. I'll take you there for some adventure when you are back on your hooves." Rarity suggested to Espie.**

" **But I don't have hooves! I only have legs. And sure, I would love to, when I am able to walk again. I will see you around!" Espie corrected Rarity, waved goodbye and continued onto the next stop with Fluttershy.**

" **Espie, next we'll have to find Rainbow Dash. She's somewhere in the skies. Try to spot her if you can." Fluttershy told her.**

" **Whoosh!" Wind rushed and blew onto both their faces.**

" **Did someone call me? I could hear you from above. Hey! Who's that on your back, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash questioned her. Fluttershy sighed before she answered.**

" **She's Espie, she is not from around here Rainbow Dash. She's a lovely Light Spirit from another place."**

" **Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash!" Espie greeted her with a smile, despite the tormenting pains in her leg.**

" **Hi Espie! Hmm… Is there any chance you are able to fly since you're a Light Spirit?**

" **Yes, using magic, but not in my current state. I can't even walk…"**

" **Since you are a Light Spirit who can fly, I assume you are some kind of magic-mystical creature. Am I right?"**

" **Yup! I can be considered one. I hope to race with you when I'm well again." Espie told Rainbow Dash and planned for a cloudless day race when she had fully convalesced.**

" **Well, with that placed aside, I've got rain clouds to settle. See you soon." After that, Rainbow Dash zoomed up into the skies, up into the horizon.**

" **Fluttershy, who's next. It's going to be sundown soon, so we've gotta hurry!"**

" **Don't worry Espie, we have only one more place to visit. We are going to see Twilight in her own castle."**

" **She has a castle? Is she royal or something?" "Espie, she is the Princess of Friendship, one of the four royal Alicorns and she lives in the Castle of Friendship. We will head there before we return to my cottage for us to rest for the night."**

 **They headed towards the castle, and on their way there, they bumped into Twilight and Spike.**

" **Hello Twilight, I'm Espie. You have a small dragon on your back which is quite an unusual sight. I thought dragons were supposed to be big..."**

" **Did Fluttershy tell you my name?" Twilight was surprised momentarily but continued. "This is Spike, a baby dragon, and my assistant. He's not supposed to be big."**

" **Nice to meet you Espie." They both shook paw and claw while still on the backs of Fluttershy and Twilight.**

" **You're hurt badly Espie. So, I guess Fluttershy taking care of you at the moment?" Spike asked, a little concerned. "Yes. She's carrying around to introduce me to all of you two and the rest of the Mane Six. I can't move around myself as I have a very swollen bruise on my right leg which hurts if I walk." Espie answered.**

" **Espie, you should rest. You shouldn't be coming to visit my castle in this kind of condition. I promise when you are better, we would give you a tour around the castle. Fluttershy is an expert in helping to take care of animals, I bet she'll heal you up in no time. I guess we better keep going Spike, we've got books to arrange! See you soon Espie and Fluttershy!"**

 **Twilight and Spike continued their way back to the crystalline castle, Fluttershy and Espie went a different path back to the cottage.**

 **When they reached the cottage, washed up and prepared for to turn in for the night.**

" **Espie, before you sleep, I have one last question to ask you. Are those two things ears or horns?"**

" **These are horn-like ears. I basically have four ears to listen out for any danger. It's just typical for some of the Light Spirits like me."**

" **Oh. That's kind of cute. Let me help you onto the bed. You will be sleeping in this room beside mine. I hope you would recover soon. Sweet dreams."**

 **She benignly tucked Espie into bed, hoping that she could quickly nurse her back to good health. Fluttershy went to sleep herself on her bed shortly afterwards.**

 **Seeing that Fluttershy slept, she limped silently towards her belongings and took the bottle of Spirit Blossom Essence out of her bag and started to apply it on her painful bruise before putting it back in and returning back to the bed, soothing the agony for the night.**


	3. Chapter 3-1 (The Castle of Friendship)

**Chapter 3.1 (The Castle of Friendship)**

 **Dawn broke, and the birds started to chirp. "Good morning, to you Fluttershy and, oh…"**

 **Discord gasped. "Fluttershy, who's that? Are you rejecting me again?" "Shh! Not now Discord, wait until she's fully awake. You will scare the spirit out of her!" Fluttershy whispered and scolded Discord softly. Discord moved out of the room and waited for Espie to wake up.**

" **Aaah" Espie yawned with a high pitched sound, which seemed amusingly adorable. "Good morning Espie." "Good morning Fluttershy," she said as she got out of bed and started walking to Fluttershy. "Oh my! Your bruise so much better now and you can walk properly again! It's so miraculous that you heal so fast! That's great!"**

" **Fluttershy, I thought heard someone else just now. Who was it?" she spoke while rubbing her eyes.**

" **IT'S ME! Hello there! I'm Discord! Nice to meet you" Discord grabbed Espie's paw, shaking her paw frantically. Espie quickly withdrew her paw and stepped back, being startled by the sudden action, went into a defensive stance momentarily, holding up her paws to Discords face, preparing to fire a spell.**

" **Hey! Don't scare me like that! What exactly are you anyway?"**

" **Ooh hoo hoo hoo! I'm a hybrid mix of animals. I was once turned into stone before but now I'm free. Fluttershy is my best friend who gave me a second chance. It's rare to see a creature like you around, Espie. What are you?"**

" **I'm a Light Spirit Guardian from another place. Don't ask…" she was already feeling a little tired of introducing herself repetitively.**

 **Espie and Discord went on to talk about each other's appearance until she talked about Twilight. "Oh, I almost forgot. I'm going to visit Twilight's castle. Are you two coming with me?" "No. I'll stay here. You two can knock yourselves out." Discord declined, then pretended to diligently sweep the cottage floors.**

" **Fluttershy, would you like to join me?" "I'm sorry, but I'm quite tied up today. Today I'm busy with Angel, are you alright if you go yourself?"**

" **It's no problem. I am able to go myself. See you later Fluttershy!"**

" **Take care and have fun Espie!"**

 **Espie left the cottage and headed for Twilight's castle, eager to discover what the castle had in its interior.**

 **When she reached the castle, she entered through the two colossal front doors which were opened, seeing Twilight again. "Hey Espie! It's a surprise that you've recovered so fast. You came at the right time! I'm not busy at the moment, so let me show you around."**

 **Twilight paused and moved forward, continuing to introduce parts of the castle to her.**

" **This castle has been my new home ever since my former home was destroyed by Lord Tirek. Well, the first place we are at is the Throne Room where the Cutie Map is located. Here, we wait for the Cutie Map to send us a signal, which makes our Cutie Marks flicker. When there are signals, we, the Mane Six would go for an adventure depending on the chosen locating the area in need of help on the Cutie Map."**

" **Wait! Could I stop you for a moment? What** _ **is**_ **a Cutie Mark?"**

" **Well Espie, they are the symbols located at our flanks which represent what we do, personality and specific talents. For me, mine represents the mark of the Tree of Harmony, basically symbolizing friendship." Twilight showed her side and continued moving to another location afterward. She thought while following her 'That's really weird that ponies customarily have these marks, but it's fine with me.'**

" **ECHO!" Espie abruptly shouted, making the echoes reverberate around the hall, astonishing Twilight for a moment. She giggled as the echoes travelled around.** ****

 **"Yup, quite large and echoey... Onto the library! It's the best thing here!" Twilight led Espie into a side passageway, entering the library.**

" **Alright, I shall start immediately, but I will need Spike to come down from the ladder before I do it. It's going to be a little messy..." Espie requested, Spike immediately clambering down.**

 **Twilight questioned her "So you are really going to help us with arranging the books? Be my guest!"**

 **Espie started to be surrounded in a magic golden light, transforming into her ultimate form - the Spirit Phoenix form. She utilised her psychic powers to make books fly all over the place, sorting out books flawlessly with elegance. The books flew all over with precision and seemed like missile projectiles just missing both Twilight and Spike by a hair.**

" **Wow! Amazing! That would have taken hours! And you did it in seconds! It's perfect." Twilight exclaimed, amazed by the breakneck speed of rearrangement and accuracy of classifying the books.**

" **Well I use magic frequently so I'm actually very accustomed to levitating objects and moving them magically."**

 **After Espie's statement, Twilight viewed Espie as some sort of a veteran wizard.**

" **Well, this is the last place of the castle and I guess we are done with the castle tour today. Thank you for helping us, Espie. See you on another occasion!"**

" **Goodbye Twilight, see you again soon!" Espie waved goodbye to them before leaving the castle for the cottage, resting for the day.**


	4. Chapter 3-2 (Apple Harvesting Day)

**Chapter 3.2 (Apple Harvesting Day)**

 **Espie awoke early in the morning before the sun rose and got her bag, rushing out for another day of adventure.**

 **Upon reaching the Sweet Apple Acres, she was greeted by Applejack. "Howdy Espie! Ye came at the right time! It's harvest day for our apples, ya wanna join us to pick apples?"she suggested to Espie.**

" **Awesome! Yes, I'd love to help. Where should we start, Applejack?"**

" **Over here, past the fence gates. Here's my family's farm, but before I let ya, I will demonstrate how ya do it."**

 **She led her into the apple plantation and they moved towards one of the trees. "This is how I normally harvest apples. Turn back-faced towards the tree and kick with your hind legs but not too hard. That should only make the apples fall down for harvest and not the whole tree." She instructed Espie, demonstrating using her hind hooves to kick the tree, knocking down many apples at once.**

 **"Um... Applejack, I don't think I can kick like you. Furthermore, I don't have hooves and I'm not physically strong. Could I be of assistance to any other steps of the harvest?"**

 **"Sure. You can assist me by sorting out spoilt apples from the good ones after I knock them down and place them in the tubs. It's that okay for ya?" She pointed at one of the tubs with her hooves, showing her to one of the many wooden apple tubs. Espie nodded, committing herself to the task.**

 **Applejack started to kick down apples from adjacent trees while Espie started to select apples that were up to her standards. However, one of the apples mushed into a gooey brown slime when she held it in her paws, freaking her out and making Applejack chuckle. "Heh heh… Ye got a nasty one there. That's spoilt. It reminds me of the time Fluttershy turned into a vampire. It goes somethin' like this…"**

 **She began to narrate the story of 'Flutterbat' to Espie, making her a little frightened. "Yep! She sucked dry all the juice from the most of the apples which made them turn to mush like this. Anyway, we're done harvestin' for today. Time to make some apple cider! Do ya mind helpin' to move the tubs of apples to the Big Macintosh's wagon to get 'em transported to the barn?"**

 **She nodded, accepting the request.**

 **Big Mac was lugging a big wagon towards them. Applejack waved to him and signalled him to go to them.**

 **They started to lift up tubs of apples one at a time onto the wagon while Espie used her magic to lift three at a time.**

 **"Applejack, why do we need to move them to the barn?"**

 **"It's for storage of some apples and for juice pressin'. For today, we would be pressin' most of these apples into cider and sellin' them at the front stall from noon to dusk."**

 **After helping to load all the tubs of apples onto the wagon, the three of them headed towards the barn.**

 **Stopping in the barn, Applejack introduced her to the treadmill press, explaining to her about the traditional pony contraption powered by walking or running continuously on the treadmill, pressing the apples into cider in the process.**

" **Espie, I will get busy filling these barrels with cider while you start supplying the presser with apples in this hopper. Big Mac, ye ready to run?"**

" **Hyeeup!"**

 **While he was running on the treadmill, Espie fed the machine with apples, the machine pressing them into cider which flowed out of a metallic tube like a waterfall, filling up each barrel quickly. Applejack was frantically running from side to side to pre-empt barrels to reduce the amount of spillage.**

 **Finishing up on the pressing process for cider, Big Mac was panting and was already drenched in sweat.**

" **Big Mac, just take a breather before we continue. Espie, help me in loading the barrels onto the wagon. We've got cider to sell today and it's nearly noon. The ponies should be arriving here in an hour or so… "**

 **When Big Mac was ready to proceed, he heaved the full wagon of barrels all the way to a wooden stand where Apple Bloom was already prepared with many glass mugs and a box to collect money from ponies who purchase the cider.**

" **Hey Apple Bloom! Nice to see you again!"**

" **Hi Espie, I'm goin' help today by fillin' these mugs with cider to serve to the oncoming ponies. What'cha doin' here today? Weren't ya injured the day before?"**

" **Oh, I'm just helping Applejack with her tasks today. I recovered yesterday so I'm kinda fine today, so I came to spend time with her."**

" **Well, you've came at the right time where the apples are ripe for harvest. Anyway, I sorta settin' stuff up some stuff for the stall now… Talk to you later?"**

" **Okay!"**

 **Apple Bloom continued to organise items neatly and continue preparing the glass mugs to make sure that they are clean.**

" **Hey, before we start sellin', why doncha try a mug of apple cider? Ye totally deserve to have some for helping us today." Applejack recommended.**

 **Espie received a mug of cider from her, holding it in her paws, hesitant to drink it.**

" **C'mon! Try it! It'll do ye great! It's our Apples' specialty!"**

 **Espie started to sip before she gradually gulped down the delicious mug of frothing cider. "Mmm! Sweet and appetizing!" Espie exclaimed excitedly.**

 **Noticing a beeline of ponies who wanted cider coming towards them, Apple Bloom started to prepare mugs for them. "Here they come!"**

 **Applejack started to collect money from ponies who bought the ciders from them, while Espie tapped barrels after barrels of cider into mugs, being served swiftly by Apple Bloom to each of the pony customers.**

 **Halfway through the line, Rainbow Dash approached the counter and paid for a mug of cider, receiving it and swilling it down.**

" **Ooh, cider! I LOVE CIDER! WOW Applejack, your ciders taste great every time!" She declared, feeling delighted after quaffing the moreish cider down.**

 **Not feeling contented enough, she continued to buy two more mugs of cider for her satisfaction.**

 **The crowd of ponies drank until evening returning the mugs and dispersing back to their homes. Applejack, Apple Bloom and Espie packed up the stall, putting everything in Big Mac's wagon before he dragged it into the barn.**

" **Thank you for lending a helping paw to me, Espie! Ya should get going. Today was exhausting but fun with you. See ye another time!" Applejack thanked her. Both she and Apple Bloom returned back to the Apples' house to rest for the day.**

 **Seeing them return, she too, returned back to Fluttershy's cottage.**

 **"It's all in a day's work..." She said to herself while on her way to the cottage and turning in early for the night.**

 **Pondering in bed who to visit next, she decided to visit Rarity the next day.**


	5. Chapter 3-3 (Rarity's New Design)

**Chapter 3.3 (Rarity's New Design)**

 **Awaking from a good sleep, Espie was ready for a day with Rarity.**

" **Good morning Espie. What's the rush?" Discord asked, seeing her rush out of her bedroom. "Today, I'm going to be with Rarity, and she does have a tight schedule, so I'm going to try to catch the time slot," Espie replied quickly before bursting out of the door.**

 **She ran to Rarity's home and knocked on the door.**

" **Spike, wait a moment." Espie heard Rarity's voice before the door opened.**

" **Oh, hey Espie. I'm in the middle of the first stage of my newest design. I a bit busy currently but we should set off after I finish this part." Rarity closed the door after Espie entered and quickly before resuming her work on where she left off.**

" **Pincushion!" She ordered work on her dress.**

 **Espie turned and looked at Spike, obliging to her command rushing with needles on his back, perturbing her. "Doesn't that hurt, Spike? Those needles in your back?" "Nah! I have thick scales. I felt like this conversation happened before, but with Twilight. I guess it's** _ **Déjà vu. It's fine when I work for Rarity…"**_

 _ **Spike answered, blushing a little, having some lovey-dovey thoughts about Rarity. She could sense some embarrassment in Spike using her intuition, sensing that he has a crush on Rarity.**_

 _" **Espie! Pass me that blue fabric over there!" Rarity requested. Attending to her request, she commanded repetitively, making Spike and Espie frantically moving to and fro just to manage each and every request until the afternoon.**_

 _" **Well, that's done. All that this design needs is gems. Espie and Spike, let's find these specific gems" Rarity took out a book on the different types of jewels and flipped it to one of the pages, using her magic to make the book float in front of Espie**_

 _" **Hmm… Okay! I got it. Let's go and find us some gems!" Espie shouted enthusiastically after knowing what kind of gem Rarity needed.**_

 _ **Rarity strapped on two large gem pouches to her back while Spike and Espie walked alongside her.**_

 _" **Espie, here is where we would find the rare gems." She took out a map and used magic to make it float in front of Espie, allowing her to know about place they were going to**_ **before rolling it and placing it back into her pouch** _ **.**_

 _" **Outskirts of Ponyville, here we come!"**_

 _ **Upon reaching the gem site, Rarity ordered Spike to start digging out the gems using his sense of smell and passed the harvested gems to Rarity for safekeeping. Espie helped to move the piles of dirt away using magic and made it more efficient for Spike to continue digging.**_

 _ **After unearthing two full pouches of gems, Espie and Spike were lethargic but they felt a great sense of accomplishment, accumulating the required amount of gems.**_

 _" **I guess we are done here. Let's return back to Ponyville." Rarity announced seeing that she had the amount of gems she needed and proceeded to move back. Spike and Espie trudged slowly behind her, feeling drained of energy.**_

 _ **Once they reached Rarity's home, it was already nightfall.**_

 _ **She requested Spike and Espie to wait outside her home for a while for a moment of discussing matters, putting down the two pouches laden with gems before emerging with a small pouch.**_

 _" **Spike, you deserve these for helping me." She passed the pouch to him, clinking while it was given to him.**_

 _" **Mmm… Gems…" he took a red coloured and licked his lips.**_

 _" **Spike, you eat gems?" Espie stared at he placed the gem in his mouth, crunching it as if it was normal food.**_

 _" **Yeah. It's one part of a dragon's diet. I'd better get going, it's kinda late... See you Rarity and Espie!"**_

 _ **Both of them observed as he rushed off towards the Twilight's castle, holding the bag with two of his claws, ensuring that it was safe.**_

 _ **Rarity turned to Espie and asked her what reward she wanted for helping her.**_

 _" **I'd be fine without a reward. It's my pleasure to assist people." She answered, rejecting the offer, feeling that the sense of accomplishment was enough as a reward.**_

 _" **Before you go, would you like to join the Mane Six and I for the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot? There, I will be wearing my sparkling dress that I was working on with the gems. Will you be going? It's a moon away, in your case, that's around a month."**_

 _" **Sure, I would love to. Goodnight Rarity."**_

 _" **Goodnight Espie."**_

 _ **She strolled on the path back to Fluttershy's cottage, agog about what the Grand Galloping Gala would be like.**_

 _ **Lying wide awake on her bed, Espie dwelled on what she could expect for the next day. 'It should be quite similar to the Light Ceremony, hopefully, it is exciting. I should go and consult Pinkie about it tomorrow.' she thought constantly before unknowingly falling asleep.**_


	6. Chapter 3-4 (A Chat with Pinkie)

**Chapter 3.4 (A Delightful Chat with Pinkie Pie)**

 **A new day arrived, Espie rushed to the Sugar Cube Corners. "Pinkie, are you around?"**

" **Is that you Espie? She's not home, we haven't met, have we?"**

 **She nodded, looking at the two unfamiliar pony faces.**

" **I'm Mrs. Cake and this is Mr. Cake, Pinkie told me everything about you. Anyway, she would be coming soon. Currently, she's just going around having her daily greeting to cheer other ponies up around the town." Both ponies were genial to her, making her feel hospitable.**

 **Soon enough, Pinkie Pie came back, bouncing with energy. "Ooh hey, Espie! What can I do for you?"**

" **I would like to spend the morning chatting with you so that I can get more information about this place. I have to go when it's close to noon as I will be racing with Rainbow Dash later."**

" **I'd also wish to ask you questions about what you have told me before too, but you can ask first since you're rushing off later."**

" **I just have a two questions, what is the Grand Galloping Gala and why does Twilight have a 'Princess' title? Is that something special?"**

" **The Grand Galloping Gala is a royal ball held to celebrate the completion of Canterlot after Equestria was founded. It is an annual event where high-class ponies or those invited by Princess Celestia. Last year, we got invited but it was just a royal mess…" Pinkie looked up with a hoof at her chin, reminiscing about the chaos due to Discord's gooey friend gulping up everything in sight.**

" **Anyway, the 'Princess' royalty title is only given to selected Alicorns. There are only five royal Alicorns: Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence and last but not least, Flurry, newly born just three moons ago. Oh, before I forget, I would be going on a one week trip with the rest of the Mane Six to the Crystal Empire from tomorrow. Would you like to come along?"**

" **Sure, I've no other plans, so why not? I would love to." Espie replied, noting down about the trip.**

" **It's still early, want to eat some cakes first before my turn to ask you?" Pinkie Pie questioned Espie, holding up a plate of two-tier strawberry cream cake.**

 **Espie nodded. Pinkie started to slice the cake and gave a piece to Espie and took one piece for herself. "Mm. This is delicious! Are Mr. and Mrs. Cake your parents?"**

" **No, but I stay here and they provide me with accommodation in exchange for helping them prepare boxes of pastry and cakes."**

 **Finishing the slice of cake, Pinkie Pie licked cleaned her lips started to ask Espie about the Spirits of Nibel.**

" **So are all spirits like you magical?"**

" **No. All spirits are born with magic and physical skills. Some choose to be sorcerers, developing psychic and magic abilities while some choose to be more inclined to the physical side where they build up on endurance and strength. The rest choose to be a hybrid of both, balanced equally between magic and muscles. I am more of a sorcerer so I am not physically strong."**

" **Sorcerer you say? Do you think your 'spirity' magic is more powerful than an Alicorn's? I mean, spirit magic should be powerful, you know, like spirits seem to be quite the mythical creatures..."**

" **Me? I might be, but not currently. I have a powerful alter ego that I can transform into that others call the Spirit Phoenix form, because I am a Light Spirit and all the vibrant colours emanate out of my body during my transformation. My ultimate form might be a little more magical than the Alicorns but I'm going for any comparison. I found this power when I was battling the leader of the Dark Spirits on my former adventure. Anything else you want to ask me?"**

" **Hmm… I have questions about your former adventure… So what did happen and who followed along?"**

 **She started to ask many questions, rapid-firing ceaseless until Espie ran out of time she planned to spend time with her. She had to cut short the potentially long conversation with her.**

 **"Pinkie, I would have to go now. It's almost the time when I'm supposed to meet with Rainbow Dash, so we would have to stop here for today..." Espie interrupted Pinkie's chain of questions, stopping her before she continued asking her multitudinous questions persistently.**

" **No problem Espie. See you tomorrow for the trip!"**

 **"Goodbye Pinkie!"**

 **Espie rushed out of the Sugar Cube Corners, running to the Pavilion to meet up with Rainbow Dash and to pump up for the race at noon.**


	7. Chapter 3-5 (Racing the Rainbows)

**Chapter 3.5 (Racing with Rainbowdash)**

 **Espie ran to the Ponyville Pavilion, seeing Rainbow Dash snoozing on a fluffy cloud. She used her powers to fly to her cloud, floating just beside. "Rainbow Dash, it's almost time to start! Can you show me the route of the race?"**

 **Rainbow Dash yawned and looked at her, "so you really want to challenge me, the best flyer around Ponyville? We would be flying all the way to Cloudsdale, u-turning from there and returning back here, fastest one wins." Rainbow Dash pointed from the cloud high above, pointing to a distanced area, which Espie could not see.**

" **So you are going to use your magic against my wings, Espie? Pfft! My wings are the one of the best around Equestria!"**

" **Yep! I bet I can beat your wings!" Espie challenged jauntily, thinking that she would win on a high probability with her powerful magic against Rainbow Dash's wings.**

" **Espie, you seem quite confident to think that you can outspeed me. We'll see. It's time for us to start! Let's GO!"**

 **Both started to fly alongside each other.**

 **Seeing that Espie could match up to her speed, Rainbow Dash challenged her, "Seems like you can catch up with me. How 'bout taking it up a notch?"**

 **Rainbow Dash's speed started to escalate, allowing her to streak through the skies, releasing her Sonic Rainboom, and displaying an array of colour which unnerved Espie briefly.**

" **Hey! Seriously?" she yelled, feeling a bit of unfairness in the unexpected change of speed without warning or notice.**

 **Espie flared into her Spirit Phoenix form, her more powerful alter ego, using her magic to boost her flying speeds incredibly, zipping past Rainbow Dash and u-turning around Cloudsdale returning to Ponyville with unbridled speeds.**

 **The residents of Cloudsdale seeing this spectacle of the lifetime stared in awe as the two streaks of golden and rainbow lines flew around the cloud city, zooming into the horizon, releasing a huge gust of wind.**

 **Upon reaching the Ponyville Pavilion, Espie found her speeds too intractable to slow down and flustered mid-air. She hurtled heftily on the ground with a loud boom, creating a gigantic impact crater in front of the pavilion, feeling the pain from the landing. "Owww…"**

 **Rainbow Dash managed to stop herself using the cushioning of the clouds.**

 **When the dust settled, she saw Rainbow Dash flying above her. "Wow! That was a race I never imagined I would be outsped. Well, it's the first time for everything. Your flying skills are awesome! You're cool! Quick tip for flying – use clouds to slow you down from flying if you are speeding across the skies, not by using the ground," she commented Espie's** **landing from the impetuous flying.**

" **Ok, I'll take note of it. Anyway, that was exhilarating. So I guess I win?"**

 **Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded.**

" **Anyway, I've got to go now. I need to pack my things for the Crystal Empire trip. Will you be going with us for the trip the day after tomorrow?"**

" **Yes. Of course. It'll be fun. See you then!"**

" **Bye!"**

 **Finishing their chat, Espie waved goodbye to Rainbow Dash and returned to the cottage and was excited for what was going to happen on the trip.**

 **She used the Spirit Blossom Essence to apply on her bruises from the landing before she slept for the night, ensuring that her injuries healed fast before the sun rises again.**

" **Hmm, just one more day before the trip, but I have no plans with anypony… Nevermind, I'll leave tomorrow's problem to tomorrow's me." Espie pondered as she went to sleep.**


	8. Chapter 3-6 (A Day With Fluttershy)

**Chapter 3.6 (A Day with Fluttershy's Friends)**

 **Waking up relaxed, Espie went to do her morning routines, free and easy with no plans for the day to visit anypony.**

" **Good morning Fluttershy!"**

" **Morning Espie! Do you have any plans today?"**

" **Nope! Maybe I could spend time with you today? I have nothing to do today, waiting for tomorrow's trip."**

" **Of course. But first, I'll need to do take care of my animal friends."**

 **Fluttershy proceeded to talk to the animals, individually giving complements to each and every animal, providing food to them in the house before lastly moving to Angel.**

 **She brushed Angel's fur and made him look more kempt.**

 **Next, she took a bowl filled with a mixed vegetable salad and placed it in front of him. "Angel, I'm sorry there're no carrots today. I promise I will get more later."**

 **Upon hearing Fluttershy's words, he gave her a stern look, patently annoyed due to the absence of carrots in his meal. He was disgruntled and pushed the bowl forward in rejection, turning his head to a side and crossing his tiny arms.**

 **Espie who was observing them from beside saw what happened and was puzzled. She telepathically read Angel's mind to know more about the situation. 'Argh, there's no carrot in my meal. I'm not gonna eat this!'**

 **After reading his mind, she whispered to Fluttershy while he thumped against the ground with his foot, being puerile and expecting some sort of resolution.**

" **I've just read his mind. He's not eating unless there are carrots. I think I can settle this problem."**

 **She went closer to Angel, caressing his ears and fur, reassuring him, "I will get some carrots for you."**

 **He thought 'Hmph! That's what I thought! Gimme the carrots!'**

 **Despite his finicky demands, she still proceeded to add carrots to the salad.**

 **She utilized her magic and made two carrots materialise in front. Next, she used her magic to slice up the carrots into circular discs and added them to his salad.**

 **Angel opened an eye and was delighted at the sight of the carrots in the bowl. He started to eat his salad, savouring it happily.**

" **Espie that was great. Please take care of him for some time while I purchase some carrots from the market." Fluttershy requested, rushing out of the cottage to stock up carrots for him.**

 **A few moments later, she returned and saw Espie sitting beside Angel, having a bloated belly and fully contented.**

" **What next Fluttershy?"**

" **It's time to practice singing with my avian friends. It's what I do frivolously when nothing interesting is happening at times."**

 **She moved to the windows and called for the birds to sing with her. Three birds, one red, one green and one blue flew in onto one of the wooden bird stand. She started to sing, taking turns with the birds and harmonising together.**

 **Espie started to undulate to the sweet melody and started singing along with them mellifluously.**

 **After singing for a period of time, Fluttershy stopped at the end of the melody, finishing her singing session with them. "Thank you, my friends, for singing with me. I'll have to stop here for today," she said to the birds, thanking them for singing with her. The three birds flew off from the stand into the skies shortly afterward.**

" **Espie, I didn't know you could sing so well!"**

" **Well, it's nothing. I don't practice my vocals often. I guess it's a gift of nature to sing well without practice… What's next?"**

" **Oh… I'm going to pack for tomorrow's trip and will be busy for the rest of the day. You should pack too since we are leaving early before dawn breaks." She suggested, proceeding to pack her bags.**

 **Espie joined her, packing until late at night, dozing off midway in while arranging her items.**


	9. Chapter 4 (The Crystal Empire)

**Chapter 4 (The Crystal Empire)**

 **Waking up early before sunrise, Fluttershy and Espie moved to and fro frantically to check their bags, rushing quickly to organise their belongings and catch the morning train on the dot at sunrise.**

 **Fluttershy was readily prepared and was waiting for Espie to finish packing before moving off.**

" **Espie, are you almost done preparing? We have to reach the train station in just a few minutes left to catch the earliest departure to the Crystal Empire."**

" **Yup, I'm ready! Let's go!"**

 **Hurrying to the train station, they hoped to get on the train just about to depart from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire.**

" **Hey you two! Hurry up, the train is going to leave soon!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, making them pace quickly into the train.**

" **Phew! Glad we made it into the train, in a nick of time!" Espie declared while panting in unison with Fluttershy.**

 **The train doors closed behind the panting duo and both heaved sighs of relief. "The rest are in the next cabin, shall we go there?"**

 **They nodded, proceeding with Pinkie Pie towards the cabin. "Hey! You two made it! That's a relief. Let's relax, chat and enjoy the scenery during the course of the train journey. It'll take some time to reach the Crystal Empire." Twilight suggested. After a few hours, they felt bored and slept all the way to their destination.**

 **Reaching the Crystal Empire station in the afternoon, they exited the train and walk onto the grounds of the Crystal Empire. Espie was bedazzled by the beauty of the crystal structures in the light, refracting iridescent colours around, and the crystal ponies who sparkled like a jewel under the sun.**

" **This is so…"**

" **Yep! Beauty ain't it? This was our reactions when we came here the first time." Applejack said, remembering how they reacted similarly to Espie.**

" **We would be staying in the Crystal Castle for a week. Let's get going!"**

 **Twilight and Spike were leading forward while the rest either walk alongside.**

 **While walking, a whole horde of ponies rushed towards Spike. "Look! It's Spike, the brave and glorious again…"**

 **Espie interpreted that they were his fans coming to greet him. Espie and the Mane Six sighed and left him to deal with his fan ponies, distancing themselves from the crowd.**

 **When Spike was done, they moved on forward to the castle.**

 **Reaching the Crystal Empire Castle, they were welcomed by Princess Cadence.**

 **Both Princesses did their hoof shake routine, ensuring that they were not changlings.**

" **How is Flurry Heart? Is she doing okay?" Twilight asked on Flurry's current condition.**

" **Oh she's just fine, she's well taken care of by the guards and Shining Armour. Well, who is the white creature next to you? It's so cute…" Princess Cadence looked at Espie intently, examining her from her face.**

" **I'm Espie and I'm a Light Spirit. Why are you looking at me like that?"**

" **I am interested to know more about you Espie. After you unpack, find me at the dining hall balcony. But first, let me lead all of you to your rooms first."**

 **They were led to different individual rooms in the castle corridors, finally allocating Fluttershy's and Espie's room to them.**

 **Espie unpacked swiftly and rushed off to the balcony.**

 **They met and started a colloquy just outside the dining hall, talking until it was dinnertime.**

" **You are an interesting kind of being, Espie. Anyway, now it's dinner time, let's join your friends together for your welcome feast."**

 **The two joined up with the rest of the seven. "Shining Armour, come and join us for our meal!" Princess Cadence shouted. "I'm coming dear. Oh… Who's that?" "She's Espie, I will tell you all about her tonight."**

 **Both ponies hugged each other before proceeding to their seats, preparing to start the feast. All ten of them started to tatter, talking about what happened to the Crystal Empire and related subjects.**

 **Espie waited impatiently, holding a question, finally asked Princess Cadence "Who's Flurry Heart?"**

" **She's our baby. She's born an Alicorn."**

" **But how is that possible?"**

" **It's just a miraculous phenomenon, like the story of how you were born, Espie, what you've told me."**

" **So how do you create a baby pony?" Espie questioned out of curiosity.**

 **Princess Cadence looked at Shining Armour and both blushed almost immediately, trying not to think about it.**

" **I'll tell you! First, a stallion and a mare fall in love with each other. Next, they proceed to honeymoons. Finally, they locked themselves in a room and start to…" "PINKIE! Not here please! It's inappropriate! This is supposed to be rated 'PG', not 'NC 16', so shush! There might be young readers who might be reading this!" Twilight reprimanded, interrupting Pinkie's jesting at the right moment before it went too far.**

 ***Twilight looks at the readers, making sure no one was offended***

 **Pinkie who was sitting next to Espie whispered to her "I'll tell you another time." She giggled before returning back to her allocated room.**

" **Well if we are done here, let's turn in for the night!" She was excited to be sleeping on royally fabricated beds. The others also returned to their rooms.**

 **Returning to the room, both Fluttershy and Espie went to the bed and slept in royalty.**


	10. Chapter 5 (The Unforeseen AttacksLTD)

**Chapter 5.1 (The Unforeseen Attacks)**

" **Ahh!" Espie woke up from the snuggly royal bed, yawning casually in the morning silence.**

" **Espie, you're awake, come quickly! I need your help at the ground floors of the castle. We have trouble." Twilight charged in, disrupting the silent morning tranquillity. She hopped out of bed and noticed that Fluttershy had already woken and left the room to check out what the commotion was about, watching from the balcony.**

 **She was panic-stricken but rushed and followed Twilight anyway. Outside of the castle was a scene of chaos, there were Timberwolves with two riders, one with a hooded robe holding a staff while the other without any equipment. The hooded rider waved her wand around to manipulate the Timberwolves to destroy the houses and property in the area while the other did not move, staying put in an area.**

 **The rest of the Mane Six were already busy trying to stop the Timberwolves from their attacks on the ground floor.**

 **Noticing that they might need additional help, Espie sprang into action and jumped from the balcony ten floors down onto the ground floor, falling to a metre above the ground and stopping her fall with her powerful magic, landing flawlessly.**

 **Upon closer inspection, she identified the two riders as surviving Dark Spirits from her world. Princess Cadence and the Mane Six were galloping frantically to the ground floor of the castle to join them, finally reaching the Square of the Crystal Empire.**

" **It can't be!" Espie exclaimed in realisation.**

" **What? What can't be, Espie?" Twilight asked, standing right beside her.**

" **All of the Dark Spirits from my world should be already destroyed by the light I unleashed during the great battle of light and dark, but there are still two here. It's quite impossible that there are Dark Spirit survivors since I rid my world of darkness, unless..."**

" **Let's just stop them! Lessen the information, Espie." Twilight had to cut short her storytelling to take action on the Timberwolves.**

 **Espie, along with the Alicorn and unicorn ponies, shot multiple spells at the Timberwolves, defeating them one by one. The rest of the Mane Six assisted in evacuating everypony out of the area, hoping to prevent anypony from being hurt.**

 **Finishing off most of the Timberwolves, the hooded Dark Spirit was dumbfounded.**

 **Outnumbered ten to one, the hooded Dark Spirit quickly retreated.**

" **You are all ruining my plans! This isn't the last you've seen of me." The hooded Dark Spirit spoke in a deep feminine voice, pointing her staff at them.**

" **And you, you're not needed as my assistant anymore. You disobey my attack orders and you are worthless. You shall perish along with the rest of the Dark Spirits!"**

 **The hooded Dark Spirit reprimanded and casted a spell on the Timberwolf the other Dark Spirit was riding, zapping the Timberwolf into dust and making him land on the ground.**

" **This is a warning. Next time, it's you turning to dust!"**

 **She disappeared in an instant along with her remaining Timberwolves, leaving the dumbfounded Dark Spirit to the mercy of Espie and the ponies around.**

 **He was quickly encapsulated in a magic bubble barrier,** **surmising** **that he was also an evil associate of the hooded rider.**

 **Both Twilight and Cadence brought him to the main Square of the Crystal Empire using magic for thorough interrogation. The ponies who had seen the incident also followed them, intending to see the punishment they were going to do with the Dark Spirit, who had a frightened expression on his face.**

" **I recognise him. He was the one who spied on me next to the river and sneaked past me at the Spirit Tree!" Espie recalled him on her past journey, the two times she being spied on by him.**

" **Hmm… Why do you look sad? You should be ashamed of yourself to be an accomplice of a villain." Princess Cadence scolded him, shaming him in front of the crowd.**

" **Please, I'm not a villain. I'm just forced against my will to follow her around..."**

" **What's your name and who is that mistress you are following?" Espie wanted to scoop out more information out of him.**

" **They call me Stealth, the spying Dark Spirit. The hooded one I was working for is a sorcerer named Malyne, one of the greatest wizards in my community, who helped me to escape the eradication of the Dark Spirits by the power of light. She forced me to follow along and abide by her commands as a returning favour to the escape." He paused for a moment before he continued to try to elucidate himself to them.**

" **While we were here, she started taming these Timberwolves and planned to invade the Crystal Empire today. However, I did not oblige to commands to attack using the Timberwolves and was insubordinate as I didn't feel that it was right, so she abandoned me. Unlike her, I'm not merciless or evil but a goodhearted spirit lodged inside the body of a Dark Spirit. Please believe me…"**

" **So Stealth, how can confirm the fact that you are truly a good soul?"**

" **I really cannot prove it as I don't have anything to prove it with. Just do whatever you intend to do to me now. I'm ready to accept my punishment…" He assumed that the ponies' facts were** **fallacious** **that all Dark Spirits were always bad, he started weeping, making Espie and the pony on-lookers shocked.**

" **Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down… There's no need to cry. It's alright. I know you are not one of the typical devilish Dark Spirit. I can help you."**

" **You can't… It's always been my dream to become a Light Spirit, but I guess you can't do that, so I can't be helped. Just put me out of my misery…" He cried even more and Espie had no idea how to deal with him. He was** **penitent** **and ready to give up his life** **acquiescently** **as a Dark Spirit and accept his fate since they didn't believe that he was righteous.**

" **Stealth, I am** **competent** **enough to remove your darkness and turn you into an authentic Light Spirit. Please, don't cry anymore. I will do it for you…" She consoled him, ceasing his sobbing gradually and allowing him to feel hopeful again.**

 **She discussed Stealth's freedom with the two Princesses. Recognising that he was corrigible, they decided to give him the benefit of doubt,** **vindicating** **him and setting him free of the magic bubble.**

 **Chapter 5.2 (Lighting the Darkness, Starting Anew)**

 **Being freed from the bubble, he thanked Espie for giving him a chance to express his true intentions. She gave him a pat on his back, giving** **solace** **to him. "It's alright."**

 **He was comforted that he was finally going to fit in where he belonged – a fitting piece to an almost complete puzzle.**

" **First, to transform you into a Light Spirit and cleanse the darkness would require loads of positive and spirit energy, which may be quite facile in certain ways. Who is able to help me with the transition?" She requested.**

" **I think, we, the Mane Six, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armour can assist you with our powers. How and what do you want us to do for this procedure?"**

" **Focus all of your magic and positivity into me and I will convert them into immense positive energy to purify him. I will be used as the main catalyst of the procedure to purge him from all the darkness." She instructed.**

" **Let's transform first!" Twilight shouted before all of the Mane Six transformed into their more beautiful forms.**

" **Wow. That was quite unexpected… I didn't know you six could do this…" She uttered in awe before starting the transitional procedure.**

 **They focused all the beams of magic at her, bringing some pain to her while she mustered the immense amounts of magic for conversion before unleashing a radiant beam of positive spirit energy towards him, slowly making his greyish-black fur turn white, purging him completely of darkness, turning him into a Light Spirit.**

 **He ran towards Espie and hugged her** **euphorically** **, "thank you so much, it exactly what I wanted." She felt sympathetic that he had really suffered his whole life until she had met him, looking for a bright future and change in his life.**

" **Hey, do you think I should change my name? I don't think the name 'Stealth' fits my new form…"**

" **Hmm… Sure! We shall start recommending names for you. Just stop us anywhere if you think a name sounds good to you." Espie told him, allowing the whole group to find an apt name that fits him.**

 **They started to confer. One name, however, stood out and made him smile in agreement. "How about Ethos? It means a character spirit of a community that demonstrates in its attitudes and aspirations, and you sure do demonstrate the ways of a Light Spirit."**

" **Yes. That would be great. I want to be called that."**

" **Alright, we shall call you Ethos. But first, before anything else, we have to clean up the place, the mess that Malyne had caused before she** **skedaddled** **away gutlessly." Espie suggested, requesting all the ponies around to help to untangle the mess.**

 **The Mane Six and the two spirits aided the injured and assisted in rebuilding the destroyed or damaged homes and clearing out rubble before, finishing the restoration of homes in a day.**

 **For the next few days, the group went around the Crystal Empire for sightseeing, along with Ethos, who was quiet in the group during the few days.**

 **They went to see crystal structures and visited exotic restaurants, having fun and enjoying themselves indulging in the activities they planned to do.**

 **Ending the last day of the trip, the group waved goodbye to Princess Cadence and Shining Armour at the station, taking the return train back to Ponyville.**

" **Wow, another Light Spirit friend, how nice and unexpected the trip has become!" Pinkie exclaimed on the journey of the train. They chatted and learned about Ethos's full story, and introduced themselves to him before arriving back in Ponyville.**

 **The rest of the Mane Six dispersed returning to their homes while Fluttershy, Espie, and Ethos remained.**

" **Um… Espie, where do I go to stay? I have been staying with Malyne for a few weeks but now I am really not sure where I should go…" Ethos hesitated a little asking her, unsure where he could stay for the night.**

" **Just follow me and Fluttershy back to the cottage." She pulled him along, persuading him to go together, following them to the cottage.**

 **Reaching the cottage and entering a side room, she pointed him to the bed where she slept on while she was here. "If you want, we can share the bed. It's big enough for both of us and it's too big for one spirit…" she suggested,**

 **He decided to sleep together with her, each sleeping on one side of the bed.**

 **While they were sleeping, Pinkie Pie was outside the window peeping in to ensure everything was alright. "Aww! They are so adorably romantic sleeping together. I'm going to tell them about it at the Grand Galloping Gala." She spoke softly to herself admiring them before bouncing back to her home into the night.**

 **[*Coincidentally, there was an MLP episode similar to Ethos' situation (5.1) three months after I wrote this chapter. The episode is Season 6 Episode 16 of MLP if you are interested. Here's the wiki page:** **/ydGb5p** **]**


	11. Chapter 6 (The Grand Galloping Gala)

**Chapter 6 (The Grand Galloping Gala)**

 **Returning to Ponyville from the trip to the Crystal Empire, Espie and Ethos were eager to attend the Grand Galloping Gala at the end of the week, wanting to see what it was like.**

 **They passed their few days before the event through ebullient playing around with each other in Ponyville, running around playing tag along with other ponies and fillies. While they were playing, Twilight specially requested two more invites from Princess Celestia for them be officially invited to the Gala, collecting the tickets while they were frisking around.**

 **On the day of the Gala, they panicked remembering that they also had to prepare. Not knowing how to prepare themselves for it, they Fluttershy for her opinions.**

" **If you want really to dress formally, you can start by consulting Rarity and trying on some of her fashionable clothing to dress up for the occasion. For me, I would be wearing this green dress, just as I did last year. You'd better get something to wear to the Gala by evening. That's when we will set off to the Gala."**

 **They rushed to Rarity's place, hoping to catch a morning timeslot of her hectic schedules to consult her right before the Gala.**

 **Reaching her place, they burst through the door and asked Rarity about how they should dress for the Gala at the last minute. "Hmm… I don't I can tailor-make any spirit-sized formal wear for you two at the moment, but I do have other things that you could wear for the Gala that I available at this last minute."**

 **Rarity used her magic to bring out a huge pile of clothing and scarves from her storage wardrobe.**

" **These are some of the hoodies and scarves I sewed for Spike, which I actually made too much. He's around both of your sizes so they should fit you. Although the formality of the Gala is to dress up in the most elegant fashion, but I guess you two can be an exception since it's both your first times attending it. Go ahead and choose something from this stack."**

 **Ethos found an azure-blue scarf which he wrapped around his neck, leaving two sides of the scarf trailing behind, posing slightly heroically in front of a mirror. Seeing that he looked alright, he commented, "I guess this'll have to do. I'll take this blue scarf. What about you Espie?"**

" **Hmm…" she searched the stack and pensively considered.**

" **I think I would like to have this pink hoodie," she decided a few moments later, holding it in front of her.**

" **I've going to spruce up for now. I will see you both tonight." Rarity stated to them before returning to get everything set for the Gala. They left to return back to the cottage, having their final preparations before the Gala.**

 **In the evening, Rarity wore her ritzy majestic jewel dress, embellished with multi-coloured gems that Espie and Spike helped to acquire, flaunting her fashionable dress around, seeming superiorly ostentatious to the rest of the group.**

 **Following behind, the rest were dressed flamboyantly, all ready for the Gala held through the night.**

 **In the late afternoon, they took a train up to Canterlot to make it when the Gala began.**

 **At night, when they reached Canterlot, they went towards the royal ballroom for the Grand Galloping Gala. The ambience of the ballroom was very convivial, drawing the group to enter.**

 **The group started to disperse and went to their desired part of the ballroom to get food, catch up with friends and hang out with them.**

 **Twilight, in conjunction with Fluttershy and the two spirits remained together, deciding where they want to do in the Gala.**

" **Ooh! Fluttershy, glad you could make it. I was just talking to Tree Hugger, wanna to join us in our little chat?"**

" **Sure Discord, please wait a moment"**

 **She pause for a moment and faced Twilight. "Please take care of Espie and Ethos while I'm busy. As for you two, have fun!" Discord dragged Fluttershy away into a conversation with Tree Hugger, leaving Twilight to handle the spirit duo.**

 **Twilight sighed, having an added responsibility to take care of them.**

" **I'm going to meet the two Canterlot Princesses for a royal palaver later, so I believe you two can handle yourselves with a bit of savoir-faire?"**

" **Um… Sure Twilight. We can behave properly, right Ethos?" Espie nudged him, grinning awkwardly, not understanding what she meant by the last part of her sentence.**

 **Knowing that they could take care of themselves, Twilight went ahead to meet the Princesses, leaving the spirit duo behind.**

 **Ethos felt bored, standing around and observing other ponies dance. At that moment, an idea popped out to him.**

" **Espie, would you like to dance with me? Let's learn from the other dancing ponies." He suggested in a suave manner, presenting a paw to Espie.**

" **Yes! Ethos, I'd love to" she answered zealously, accepting and holding his paws, feeling slightly charmed by his gesture.**

 **They started to dance away learning the steps of the ballroom dance from the adjacent ponies, holding each other's paws and looking at each other, blushing slightly.**

 **After a while, they noticed Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly towards them.**

" **Hey you two! Both of you look like a couple, so adorable together!" Pinkie Pie remarked them, seeing them ecstatically dancing together.**

 **She explained romance to both of them, educating them on how love worked and how they should go about it.**

" **Oh… I see. Well, that's not common around Nibel and as spirits, we don't…"**

 **Out of nowhere, an explosion was heard followed by shrilling screams, interrupting what Espie was trying to say. A Timberwolf pack rushed into the ballroom like water flowing into a hole in a boat, running wildly, chasing ponies and sending them galloping in a hysterical disarray, trying to escape the menacing appearances of the wolves.**

 **Espie and Ethos hesitated, seeing the destruction of the ballroom and the pandemonium caused by the wolves. The three Princesses rushed into the ball, adjourning their discussion to another time to see what was happening.**

 **Pulling herself together, they quickly planned for a solution to the problem.**


	12. Chapter 7 (The Ballroom Chaos)

**Chapter 7 (The Ballroom Chaos)**

 **Espie went to look for the rest of the Mane Six, blasting spells at the wolves, repelling them from her pathway.**

 **Ethos followed her and bashed the incoming wolves that were coming close to her, sending each bashed wolf in the opposite direction using his strong legs while propelling backwards to avoid the jaws and claws of the Timberwolves.**

 **Running around the ballroom, they managed to find the rest of the Mane Six and assembled with the three princesses. They prepared to have a sneak attack while Malyne was not looking.**

" **Let's go!" Ethos blurted out to the group, accidentally alerting the back-faced hooded rider, ruining their plans of their attack. "Oops…"**

" **Ohohoho! What a surprise to see you again, Stealth, now going against me in your new form together with your friends. You all think that you can stop me? I'll show you my true unstoppable malignant power!" Malyne laughed wickedly before using the power of her staff to fuse the nearby Timberwolves together into one giant Timberbeast before she flew onto the top of its back, riding and controlling every movement of the minacious beast.**

 **Princess Celestia and Luna started to shoot their magic spells at the Timberbeast while the Mane Six transformed into their forms. Each of the Mane Six transformed with each of their variant element of harmony transformation, powering up into their beautiful forms joining the princesses to attack shortly afterwards.**

 **The spirit duo placed their adroit minds to work and created a battle tactic to attack Malyne. Espie concentrated her magic into an immense ball, allowing Ethos to bash it off her paws as effective projectiles, hitting the face of the giant.**

 **Progressively reducing the ferocity and size, they managed to defeat the giant, making it tumble over and Malyne evasively jumping off to avoid being squashed.**

 **She was left standing with her staff, holding it trembling. "You will pay for this!" She targeted it at the group with rage, preparing to unleash her wrath of darkness on them.**

 **Espie, having a quick reaction and intuition, noticed that she wanted to fully annihilate the group, shot a powerful shockwave of light and quelled her before she made her move. The staff dropped onto the ground with a metallic thud onto a heap of grey dust.**

" **Whew, that was one tough fight, right everyone?" Espie commented, panting. The rest, also feeling breathless from the battle, nodded their head in agreement.**

" **Well, I guess there's no more gala for the night. Everypony is scared off…" her remark made them laugh. "Seriously though, let's clean up!"**

" **No need for that. I will have somepony to get the ballroom cleaned." Princess Celestia informed her.**

" **What about this?" Ethos picked up Malyne's staff, brushing off the dust and held it in his paws.**

" **Take care of it Ethos. I want to check out what it might be capable of."**

 **Glancing around the messy ballroom, Espie spotted a gaping hole and pointed it out to Princess Celestia. "What should we do about that big hole?"**

" **This is one of the problems in the annual chaos we have to deal with. I will get somepony to help me repair the wall too." Princess Celestia reassured her before they left the ballroom.**

 **Reaching Ponyville in the morning, they returned to their homes to change, lethargic from another chaos of the annual Canterlot Gala. The two spirits followed Fluttershy and returned to her cottage.**

" **Brrr!" Espie shivered while she took off her hoodie, shaking her head and body, making sure that her fur was not messy before keeping it.**

 **Ethos, feeling some sense of elegance with the scarf on, decided to continue wearing it just to look slightly heroic.**

 **Fluttershy and the two spirits sprawled on the sofas, loafing around and casually chatting to each other, trying to destress from the Gala incident.**


	13. Chapter 8 (A Visit To Nibel?)

**Chapter 8 (A Visit to Nibel?)**

 **Relaxing from the chaos of the Gala, Espie and Ethos confabulated with Fluttershy, talking about the huge commotion of the Gala.**

 **One thing popped up in Espie's mind while they had their conversation – going back to Nibel, her home.**

 **She asked Fluttershy, "Would you and the rest of the Mane Six like to join me for a visit to Nibel, Fluttershy?"**

" **I would like to but I'm not so sure about my friends… I'll help you to ask them later."**

" **Great. But first I need to send a letter to invite Princess Celestia to the trip as well, but the problem is how? Do you know how, Fluttershy?"**

" **Ask Spike to help you. Write a letter, roll it up and pass it to him. He will deliver it for you."**

" **I shall do that. Meanwhile, can you help to inform the rest that we are taking a trip to my home tomorrow? While I'm visiting Spike, I would also inform Twilight, so you only need to send word to the rest of the four."**

" **Okay. Meet you back here after you are done."**

 **Both of them left the cottage and headed in different directions, leaving Ethos alone in the cottage.**

" **Well Ethos, at least you're here with me… " Discord said to him, walking to the bathroom for his shower, wrapping a towel around his neck.**

 **Ethos did not feel like doing anything productive as he was still lethargic from the previous night. He lounged around for a while before he got bored. He started fiddling with Malyne's staff, lifting it up from the table and inspecting it clearly, tapping on each part to see if anything interesting happens.**

 **~Meanwhile~**

 **Espie ran into Twilight's castle, finding Twilight and Spike resting on a couch. "What is it Espie? Anything wrong" Twilight asked, still slightly fatigued from the gala. Spike was standing beside her holding up a quill and a checklist.**

" **There's two things I need to inform you. Firstly, are you two interested in visiting my home tomorrow? Secondly, I need to borrow Spike to send Princess Celestia a letter to tell her that I'm inviting her for that trip to my home." she answered, hoping that they would accept the offer to her home.**

 **She led them to the main room and sat on another couch.**

" **We would be interested to. Spike, do your thing..." She dozed off on the couch immediately after saying her sentence.**

" **Well, she's tired. We should leave the room and give her time to rest. Follow me to the library and we can start there."**

 **Spike led Espie to the library, moving to a table and prepared the ink and quill, along with a sheet of yellowish paper, ready to write the message.**

" **Spike, here's what I want you to write in the letter…"**

 **After conversing the message word-by-word to him, he rolled up the paper, ready to get it delivered.**

 **Espie asked "How are you going to send it? I don't see any contraption that can help to send this letter to Canterlot…"**

" **Dragon magic…" Spike answered. She was curious to see how he would do, not knowing what 'dragon magic' looked like compared to her own.**

 **He took the letter and breathed green flames at the letter, making it seem like it was burning. She gasped in horror as the paper turned to ash and disappeared. Spike reassured her that he was just sending the letter and not really burning it.**

" **Now we shall wait for any replies from her. It just takes a moment…"**

 **A minute ticked by as they waited for things to happen.**

 **Out of the sudden, Spike belched with green flames and a scroll popped out. "Let me see… It writes 'It would be a pleasure to go with you tomorrow, I will come in the morning. See you tomorrow at Twilight's castle.' Well, that means we can all go for a nice trip."**

" **Thank you, Spike. See you tomorrow for the visit to Nibel"**

 **Spike waved goodbye to Espie before she ran back to the cottage, seeing Ethos and Fluttershy inside through the window "Good news Espie. They've all agreed to come along tomorrow. Anyway, Ethos has something to show you." Fluttershy told her.**

 **He approached Espie and told her to follow him to the table by the couch.**

" **Hey Espie, I just placed the items close to each other and both items suddenly glowed and fused together, becoming this! " he lifted the amalgamation of the items and presented it to her.**

 **She took it and examined it closely.**

" **Hmm… Yup! I actually knew that these two items would fit together already. Malyne's staff is a part of a relic stolen from the Spirit Tree during the days of decay. With both fitting relic parts finally reassembled together, we have the Staff of Spacetime. It has the capabilities to control of all the realms of space and time! Do you know what this means?"**

 **Ethos shrugged, looking at her, clueless about what she was going to say.**

 **Espie held the staff in a heroic stance, exclaiming "More adventure!"**

" **Yeah!" he joined in with her.**

 **Fluttershy was entertained by Espie's cute stance, smiling in admiration.**

" **So now, we are able to customise the staff to where and when we want to go, not like how I used the cube like before to randomise my adventure."**

 **Espie put the staff away and lolled around together with Ethos and Fluttershy for the rest of the afternoon, reenergizing themselves for the visit the next day.**


	14. Chapter 9 (The Ponies, Nibel and Around)

**Chapter 9.1 (Ponies Below the Grand Tree)**

 **Early in the morning before dawn broke, Espie popped out of the bed early to arrange her items and the staff to get a head-start preparation for the trip.**

 **A few moments later, Ethos and Fluttershy also woke up. "Get ready whatever you need and get going to Twilight's castle to meet up with everyone!" Her voice was filled with much enthusiasm, yearning to bring the group around the forests of Nibel.**

 **The two looked at each other somnolently for a moment before washing up their faces and packing necessities and moving off with Espie, who was already fervent about the visit to her home.**

 **Reaching the castle, the rest of the group was already waiting. "Is everyone ready to travel to Nibel?"**

" **Yeah!" They exclaimed in unison, thrilled for the visit.**

" **Espie, just for curiosity, how much time are we going to spend in your world?" Princess Celestia asked at the last minute, worried about the state of Equestria when she is on the trip.**

" **It's a two day one night trip around Nibel. There's someone I would also like you to meet, so I invited you to join us." She apprised her before announcing to the group that they were leaving. "We are going to warp. Everyone, stay close to me! The staff has a magical proximity limit, so I cannot warp anyone too far away."**

 **After everypony stood close to her, she pointed the Staff of Spacetime to the sky and teleported everypony from Ponyville to Nibel in an instant.**

 **Upon entering Nibel, a revitalising breeze was felt. The air was welcoming with a cooler temperature, crisp and pure as always. They appeared at the base of the majestic Spirit Tree, the beginning roots of all the Light Spirits that were born around.**

" **Welcome to Nibel, my home and where I started off from. This ginormous tree is the Spirit Tree, where most spirits are created. The Spirit Tree takes care of creatures and spirits in an extensive area around the Nibel forest, trying to keep them safe. Let's go meet the duo who saved Nibel once before. While walking, just look around and appreciate the nature..." Espie lead them in a tour-like manner, introducing different monuments and their functions.**

" **Ooh! Those are quite cute! They look like you two, Espie and Ethos!"**

" **Of course, they look like Ethos and me! We are all spirits originating from the same Spirit Tree."**

 **Maundering about how spirits look, Pinkie Pie and Espie had a longwinded prose, speaking loud enough for the rest of the group to hear them.**

" **Well, these guys are my size…" Spike compared his size with the size of nearby frolicking spirits.**

" **Yes, Spike. They are as small as you…"**

" **Twilight, they are just marvellous little creatures! Look!"**

 **Rarity pointed with her hooves, pointing the group to look in one specific direction. They saw spirits climbing, placing tag, prancing from tree to tree and capering. One of the spirits swung on a vine niftily towards them, seeming to want to interact with them.**

" **Hey Espie, it has been a month since you left. I missed you! Who are all of these friends you have brought here?" "They are Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Princess Celestia and the new addition to our community, Ethos. Nice to see you again, Lucie."**

" **Wow! Another Celestia? That is so awesome!"**

" **She's a royal pony of Equestria where they reside, so you might want to address her differently. Anyway, wanna come along Lucie?"**

" **Um, I'm actually training some of the younglings' agility currently, so I need get going to catch up with my students." She said before she sprinted and resumed swinging on the vines that drooped from the majestic tree.**

" **Who was that? A friend of yours?" Rainbow Dash asked, observing that they were somehow related.**

" **She's one of my companions and my best apprentice. She's a veteran student of mine who took over my teachings because I wanted to pursue my dreams of becoming an adventurous explorer," Espie explained to her.**

" **You're a teacher? Wow. I didn't know that…" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.**

" **There's a lot you don't know about me. C'mon, let's move on ahead!"**

 **She continued moving ahead, leading the group as if it was like a tour.**

" **Here is where spirits like me live. These are the leafy beds that light spirits normally sleep on for the night. This is my home." Espie led them into a tree hollow and introduced her home to them.**

" **Espie, you live here? Oh my! It's um… too natural for my tastes..."**

" **Rarity, it's their way of life here, don't judge. It's not like you will sleep here anytime soon." Twilight stopped her criticism about the hollow in case Espie was offended.**

" **I think it's quite pleasant to live so close to nature, it's quite serene here." Fluttershy poked around at the leafy beds and glanced around.**

 **After they finished visiting Espie's home,** **t** **he group proceeded onto a winding path on the side of the Spirit Tree leading to the top.**

 **The ponies who could fly did not split from the group to go ahead, but instead, stayed along with the rest.**

 **However, halfway up the tree, the ponies who could not fly felt exhausted and started panting.**

" **Phew… How much more do we have to climb?** **This is really tirin' for us who can't fly…" Applejack grumbled as her hooves started to protest against the long trek, feeling pain and increasingly weary on every step.**

" **Well, some of us spirits use magic to fly while some of the others just like to do the conventional vertical climb all the way up which is more enervating than the way that we are reaching the top. Anyway, we should be there anytime soon. Don't give up!"**

 **They moved on further, finally emerging from the path onto the summit of the tree, seeing Ori next to a glowing spherical shape.**

" **Finally! We've reached the top!" Spike exclaimed, sighing with the rest of the group who walked all the way up to the top.**

" **Hey Ori and Sein!"**

 **Chapter 9.2 (Meeting the Heroes of Nibel)**

 **The seven ponies, Spike, Espie and Ethos were all pleasantly greeted by Ori.**

" **Hey Espie and all of you. Nice to meet all of you. I'm Ori and this is Sein, the light and eyes of the grand Nibel Spirit Tree. But Espie…"**

 **Ori moved next to her, whispering to her about a trivial matter.**

" **Did you seriously bring them up by walking? You do know there is a teleportation portal at the base of the Spirit Tree to just instantly come here, right?"**

" **Yep. I just wanted them to enjoy the views while they climbed up. If I did inform them, they might not have followed me by the spiralling path." she said, giggling softly, making herself slightly suspicious to the rest of the group.**

" **It's so mean of you."**

 **Ori sighed, shaking his head distastefully and face-pawed before proceeding to what they planned to do in the late morning.**

" **We shall commence with our introductions. Let's start with your names and something about yourselves."**

 **Each of them took turns to introduce themselves, including Ethos, sharing tales and stories.**

" **Wait a moment Ori, how are you a Guardian Spirit while Espie is just an Elder Spirit? Isn't she qualified?" Pinkie Pie asked Ori on one of his replies.**

" **She is. Although she's a Guardian, the 'guardian' title is not usually put on her as she does not permanently stay in an area to protect something. For me, I'm guarding the Spirit Tree constantly, ensuring that everything is all right in Nibel first before anything else that I do."**

" **Ori is right… Most of the spirits call me an Elder Spirit as I have taught most of them in the past and I'm one of the veterans here. I'm only like fourteen spirit years old, which is not old in spirit years, but it's fine."**

 **As they continued chatting, Espie delineated about her adventures in Equestria to Ori and Sein while the rest listened attentively the different boasts and exaggerations that she added on into her story.**

" **Hmm, Equestria seems kinda nice. I would like to visit the place one of the days with my students. Anyway, Ethos, welcome to the Light Spirit community." He said, thinking about going on a personal trip there.**

" **Espie, a word with you in the hollows, behind these vines." Ori swept the vines to the side, revealing a room full of rare items and sacred carvings.**

 **They had a tête-à-tête moment, discussing in secrecy while Sein attended to chat with the rest.**

 **Ori took out two stone pendants from a nearby wooden box, passing both to Espie. "I will need you to use your staff to imbue both of these energy stone on these pendants, one just for me to use for dimensional exploration. The other, you may pass it to one of your trustworthy pony friends later, so that they might return to Nibel anytime they want."**

 **She transferred some of the staff's energy and charged the stones with spacetime powers, making them glow with bluish-grey luminescence.**

 **While Ori kept it for his future explorations, she kept the pendant in her bag securely to pass it on to Twilight when she was back in Equestria again. "Espie, keep it a secret to most. Spacetime magic is the strongest one of all magic in Nibel, so I won't know what to do if those charged items are misused."**

 **They emerged from the hollow after their personal conversation to re-join the rest.**

" **Ori, do you know where my friends are? The four of them who followed me to the Valley of Dreams. I want to see them."**

" **They aren't around Nibel at the moment. They left traversing through the outskirts of Nibel there to pay a visit to their masters. They should be arriving at the valley in tomorrow."**

" **Oh… How about visiting the places you've been before? We've still got half a day to go before their arrival and my pony friends would like to see those places." Espie requested while the rest nodded in agreement to visit Ori's great escapade.**

" **Okay. I will follow your group around for today until a point before returning back here. Shall we leave to see my past adventure places now?"**

" **Sure!" the group answered eagerly, anticipating the picturesque locales that he used to go on his peregrination to save the forest of Nibel.**

 **Standing in close proximity of Espie, she casted a teleportation spell, warping them to their first stop on the list, Ori's erstwhile home.**

" **Ah! This brings back memories, my former home. This is where my adoptive mother, Naru, and I used to play together." He spoke, flashbacking to the joyous moments he and Naru had there.**

 **Chapter 9.3 (Ori's Former Adventure Spots)**

 **Seeing Naru, he ran forward to hug her. "Welcome back Ori, and your new friends too!"**

" **Ma, it's been a long time since I've came back here. I have been busy doing my duties at the Spirit Tree. Anyway, where are Gumo and the owl?"**

" **They are out in the grass field playing with each other. Why don't you introduce your friends to me?" she suggested, pointing out that he forgot to introduce them.**

" **This is Espie and Ethos and the ponies are…" Ori introduced each and every pony that was in the group to Naru, including Spike, which fascinated her. "All of you have nice names, and you are an interesting one, Spike. I've never seen a dragon here before." She said, examining him from the head to tail, checked him out.**

" **Anyway, Espie and Ori, how are spirits born here?" Princess Celestia asked curiously while Naru was taking a look at Spike. Ori nudged Espie, signalling her to explain, saving the effort for him to continue talking.**

" **As spirits, we are born from the leaves of Spirit Tree that falls onto the grounds of Nibel. Although we have different looks, we have similar roots," she explained to the group who were not familiar with the customs around here.**

" **Wow, so that's how you two were born. I was born quite differently and my beginnings were not as simple as yours." Ethos recounted the way he was born in the darkness and not from a leaf but in a cave. They continued to share about themselves until it was time to leave for the next area.**

 **Ori decided that they should move on to the next place, leading the group out of his home after bidding Naru adieu. Espie took the staff, and waved it around,** **teleporting and then reappearing in front of a colossal tree that was flowing ceaselessly.**

" **Here we are at the Ginso Tree, Nibel's element of water," Ori spoke, retelling the group on how Gumo stole the Water Vein and how he managed to get the orb back to open the Ginso Tree.**

 **They entered the tree with ceaselessly flowing water, seeing decayed wooden logs that hung from the ceilings. "Oh, right… I forgot about this… Let's teleport up to the waterfall to save the effort of climbing up,"Espie suggested alternatively, teleporting all of them to the Ginso Tree summit, in front of a flowing pool of water.**

 **Reaching the summit of the tree, they frolicked in the crystal clear waters under the late-afternoon sun, splashing and swimming and wading until it was dark. In the evening, they laid on the nearby grass patch, staring into the starry night sky.**

" **Ah! It's so cooling and tranquil here, what an enjoyable night." Princess Celestia looked up, feeling tranquil around them. The others also felt the same relaxing atmosphere and started to lay down.**

" **We are going to sleep here for the night. Aaaah…" Espie yawned, turning to see the others, noticing Rarity still standing and expressing a face of disgust.**

" **Urgh! Why are we sleeping here? There might be bugs or insects!"**

" **Rarity, don't worry, we don't have them this high here at this altitude. Rest well" Espie reassured her. Reluctantly, she slept along with the rest on the grass patch.**

 **The next day, they woke up and moved on to their next location. "Time to go to the Valley of the Wind," Ori announced before the whole group routinely gathered to be teleported. Upon reappearing, wind gushed into their faces. They were on the top of a rocky precipice of the vast valley.**

" **Some of you ponies with wings can fly around the valley. There is a powerful updraft for gliding and flying around. Those who cannot fly, just hang around or follow Espie to the Forlorn Ruins."**

 **Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash jumped off the cliff edge, blown vertically upwards by the gusts of strong winds.**

 **Spike, feeling envious, complained to Ori "Hey! What about me? I wanna fly too!"**

" **Me too!" Ethos joined him in the protest.**

" **If you really want to, I will lead you to acquire some big leafs from the vegetation close by for you to glide with." He put forward a backup plan for the non-flyers enjoy the experience.**

 **He led Spike and Ethos towards an ancient tree and got some broad leaves for flying. The trio proceeded to jump into the wind, flying in the breeze.**

 **Espie stayed with the rest of the group who didn't want to fly and visited the Forlorn Ruins, teleporting there. They enjoyed the gravity changes in the ruins, cantering around while they were hanging from the ceilings.**

" **Woo hoo! Upside down jumping!" Pinkie Pie bounced continuously off the ceiling before landing back onto the ceiling, experiencing the difference to only bouncing on the flat ground.**

" **Yup, the Forlorn Ruins has gravitational anomalies, which makes it perfect to hang like a bat. The heart at the centre of this place, the Element of Winds, produces wind for our friends riding the wind right at this moment. Unfortunately, we can't enter the heart at the moment as there are gale force winds there, which will be pulverised to bits if you enter. Going in there would endanger everyone." Espie warned them, pointing at a blocked off hole in the wall.**

 **Whizzing through the air and flying towards the walls, they landed on different surfaces on all sides of the ruins using the floating bluish blocks, changing whichever side they want the gravity to pull.**

" **Wait, what in tarnation is this?" Applejack asked, looking at a circular structure that was right below her.**

" **Oh… That? That's a Spirit Well. When Light Spirits are debilitated, they come to these wells to revitalise themselves with the spirit energies within."**

" **Wait! So that's your type of hospital? Wow, so that's how spirits normally heal themselves." Pinkie exclaimed, also staring at the Spirit Well.**

" **Not only that, but spirits also can use the energies to instantly teleport themselves to other wells that they choose to go. It's just how Nibel works."**

 **Having exhilarating fun, time passed quickly but it was time for them to return back to the Valley of the Wind to check on the flying ponies and the gliding non-flyer duo.**

" **Alright, it's time to wrap things up! We should return back to the Valley of to meet up with the rest."**

 **Hanging upside down, they teleported back to the cliffside of the valley.**

 **Ori approached Espie and informed her about needing to go back before sundown.**

" **I need to return to the Spirit Tree to check on Sein, so I might need to go back now…" he said, worried about the state of both the Spirit Tree and Sein after a day apart with them.**

" **Okay Ori. The rest of you, I will be back in a jiffy so please help to look out for the flyers and gliders while I'm away." Espie disappeared for a moment before reappearing back onto the cliff.**

" **It's time for us to go, my friends should have arrived," she shouted to them. Immediately, they landed on the valley cliff edge beside her.**

" **That was so fun Espie! We don't have such strong winds like that back at home in Equestria. It's a pity that we have to go so soon." Rainbow Dash felt slightly reluctant to leave and stated.**

" **Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry we have to cut this short. My friends are going to where I planned to go today so there is rescheduling. It's around noon now, so they should already be there." she logically replied.**

 **Espie used the staff and transported them to the Dream Sanctuary, at the base of the valley.**

" **Well, we are here. This is the Valley of Dreams, the place where there are unlimited psychic energies flowing all about. This is the place where Light Spirits acquire psychic abilities and the place where I gained mine."**

 **The ponies glanced around, looking at some of the levitated boulders and in the yonder, a misty lake surrounded by trees and wooden houses with leafy roofs. Espie pointed at an area outside a big building, a peculiar one with a birch wood roof and was temple-like which stood out from the rest of the wooden buildings around the lake.**

 **My Light Spirit friends should arrive at that rendezvous point soon. That was the spot where we split for our individual trainings and where we reunited after that seven years ago. Let's head there to wait for my friends! I can't wait for them to meet you!" She announced to the group, anticipating her friends' arrival as a joyous occasion.**

 **Chapter 9.4 (A Return Visit to the Valley of Dreams)**

 **After waiting a while at the sanctuary, her four spirit friends appeared on the horizon, sighting Espie along with her friends. "Hey Espie! I see you've got some new friends while you were away. Can you introduce them to all four of us?"**

" **Yes, I've brought them from another dimension just to bring them around Nibel. These my new friends. They are…" she introduced her visiting group to her four friends and vice versa.**

" **You used the Cube of Dimensions to instantly travel here, didn't you?" asked the strong and muscular one.**

" **I used the Staff of Spacetime to teleport here. Ethos' previous master had the incomplete staff of magic which was the missing piece to put together with the cube. Since we had both the parts, we fused the relics together into the staff, increasing the power of spacetime magic so that we can choose where to go instead of randomly travelling through dimensions."**

" **So now you have full control over the spacetime continuum. Big deal…" he whined.**

" **Don't mind him. He's a bit jealous about Espie's positive progression in her life. Anyway, should we go to visit our former masters now? I mean, we don't have all day, just the afternoon."**

" **Yes, we shall! Ponies, Spike and Ethos, the choice is up to you to follow any one of my friends, but we will meet here at dusk."**

 **The group split into five subgroups to follow Espie and each of her four Light Spirit friends to visit the masters. Princess Celestia, Twilight, Spike and Ethos decided to follow Espie.**

 **She led them to the Grand Spirit Elders' sanctuary, higher above ground than the normal sanctuary. They climbed up to the sanctuary and went into the main wooden building and saw the Spirit Elder Celestia. As a former** **protégé** **, she bowed to her formally and thank her for her teachings. "Master, it's nice to meet again. Thank you for teaching me in the past. I've got someone I'd like you to meet. Master Celestia, meet Princess Celestia."**

 **Espie was eager to see what both Celestias would do. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Celestia. You and Espie have the same teacher-student relationship as me and Twilight."** **Princess Celestia pulled Twilight into the conversation, involving her to join the gabfest.**

 **Spike and Ethos joined in the conversation shortly after. They were so involved in talking they lost track of time. As they were talking, they were oblivious to the passage of time that elapsed.**

 **The evening sun's orange glow shone into the room, indicating that it was turning night and the ponies had to return. "It's time for us to go. Goodbye master! I hope I can visit you again another time!" Espie and the rest bid their adieus, waving goodbye to Spirit Elder Celestia before exiting the Elders' sanctuary.**

 **On the way down to the foot of the Dream Valley Mountains, they met up with Espie's four spirit friends and the rest of the ponies on the converging paths. "Do you four want to hitch a ride with us back to the Spirit Tree? I'm sending the ponies back home and going to stop by the Spirit Tree first. Maybe it is better if you join us?"**

" **Sure do! It's tiring trying to come here without any means of teleportation. They should really build Spirit Wells around this valley too for us to teleport here without any hassle." The bulky one of the four spirits spoke to Espie, whining about the long journey all the way from the Spirit Tree.**

" **Okay. I can't teleport anyone from too far away from the radius of my staff, so four of you should come and crowd near me together with the ponies." Espie instructed. The group huddled together and teleported, returning to the Spirit Tree in a snap.**


	15. Chapter 10 (Goodbyes Are Not The End)

**Chapter 10 (Goodbyes Are Not the End)**

 **Appearing at the base of the Spirit Tree, the four went ahead to return back to their homes to rest while the group had to were crowding around Espie. "Looks like this is goodbye, my pony friends. It's time for me to send all of you back." She was reluctant to let them go back as she cherished their friendships but had to. They had their normal lives to resume living, their normal lives to return back to.**

 **Espie felt very downhearted and ran to Fluttershy to hug her, feeling most closely bonded with her. "Fluttershy, thank you for taking care of me while I was injured. I'll miss you…"**

 **She started tearing, lamenting to have to leave Fluttershy and all the other pony friends. Espie ran to hug each and everypony before finally getting back the courage to continue.**

 **Wiping off her tears, she bravely proceeded to bring them back to Equestria.**

" **I will bring you all back to Ponyville in just a moment. Before we go, there are different temporal timelines between Nibel and Equestria. So a day here is a week in Equestria. Just give me a moment to adjust the spacetime coordinates to when and where we started on our trip so that you don't lose any amount of time in Ponyville for coming here."**

 **Espie calibrated the staff to the precise time that they left for the Nibel trip and warped them through the spatial and dimensional expanse, reappearing at Twilight's crystal castle shortly.**

" **Espie, thank you for the enjoyable trip to Nibel. It was exhilarating. Now, I would need to return back to Canterlot. I would need to go now. See all of you again!" She flew up into the sky and back to her palace in Canterlot.**

" **I guess we y'all need to say goodbye sometime, whether we like it or not," Applejack said solemnly.**

 **They had a final talk with each other and bid farewell. "Twilight, can you wait here a moment, I have something to discuss with you."**

 **The rest of the Mane Six left, leaving Twilight and Spike behind with her.**

 **Espie took out a luminescent pendant from her bag. "This is an energy stone pendant. I have infused this with Spacetime energy so that you and your friends may one day return to visit Nibel or time travel in cases of emergencies. Keep it with you, make it secretive within your Mane Six group. Keep it in good paws, but in your case, keep it in good hooves."**

 **She hung the pendant around Twilight's neck, bidding farewell and warped instantaneously from Ponyville back to Nibel.**

 **She returned back to the Spirit Tree where Ethos was left standing for a while.**

 **Espie was ready for another adventure - this time with Ethos.**

" **Ethos, shall we go for another adventure?"**

" **Sure! But now just after one adventure?"**

" **Yup! Let's go!"**

 **She used her staff and opened a portal, allowing both of them to step into a dimensional space where there were all sorts of rifts, anticipating more adventure in the next dimension where they were going.**

 **Floating in the dimensional expanse, Espie and Ethos flew towards a big dimensional bubble that seemed to be the most interesting place to go out of all the rifts they could go to.**

 **(Continues in the ES 2.2 - Espie and the Pokémon Adventures, coming in 2017)**


End file.
